Collar board



y 1951 w. J. FREEDMAN 2,551,879

COLLAR BOARD Filed Feb. 11, 1949 M044 0444 ZfFE'EED/WAM INVENTOR.

?atented May 8, 1951 lTED STATES PATENT FFHCE COLLAR BOARD Application February 11, 1949, Serial No. 75,859

4 Claims.

This inventionrelates to boards used for maintaining collars of shirts in proper position. Such boards are commonly used in connection with new shirts, or freshly laundered shirts.

Boards of this character are adapted to be placed within the fold of the collar; and, to facilitate their use, they are made from flexible cardboard of about thirty thousandths (.030) of an inch thick. In this way, the board may be readily manipulated so as to conform to the collar, and yet the board is stiff enough to resist creasing or wrinkling of the collar.

It is one of the objects of this invention to improve collar boards of this character.

It is another object of this invention to facilitate the manufacture of such collar boards.

Collar boards may be made adjustable by making the boards of a straight strip with slots or cuts at the ends to permit adjustment for collar size. Boards formed in this manner are likely to be crushed or creased at the place where the ends are joined. It is another object of this invention to provide an improved adjusting means that makes it unlikely that the ends of the board would be injured or separated.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a board that quite closely conforms to the desired shape of the collar.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of a form in which it may be embodied. This form is shown in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. It will now be described in detail, for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that such detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan View of a collar board incorporating the invention, and shown in flat position;

Fig, 2 is a front perspective view of a collar board formed into a loop and ready for use;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the collar board; and

Fig. 4 is a pictorial View of a collar board in place on a shirt.

The collar board is preferably made of cardboard having sufiicient flexibility to permit it to be shaped into the loop form illustrated in Fig. 2. It may be of the order of 0.030 of an inch thick. It comprises a single strip of material having the obliquely divergent wings i and 2 joined by a central portion 3 of reduced width. The upper edge of the central portion 3 is joined by a gradual curved slope to correspond to the greater width of the Wingsl and 2, which terminate in the ends 4 and 5.

Due to the divergent directions of the wings I and 2, the collar board, when the ends are joined, does not form a cylindrical surface; instead, it assumes the form shown in Figs 2 and 3. Thus, when the collar board is placed in position over the neckband, the front central portion 3 slopes downwardly and forwardly. The rear portion 6 is substantially parallel with the upstanding back portion of the neckband. When the board is placed in the position shown in Fig. 4, around the neckband of the shirt 1, the back of the collar 8 is held in upright position while the wings 9 and ID of the collar are allowed to fall quite closely to the bosom portion of the shirt 7.

When the collar board is in place, as shown in Fig. 4, the shirt collar assumes a natural configuration; the collar board is held properly in place; and the collar board and the collar resist creasing or wrinkling.

As shown most clearly in Figs. 3 and 4, the center portion 3 falls substantially below the rear portion 6 of the board, where the wings I and 2 are joined. Accordingly, should a number of shirts 1 be placed one over another, the collar 8, instead of extending upwardly from the shirt, Would fold outwardly and toward the back. Due to the divergent wing structure, such folding is permitted without substantial change of the position of the central portion 3.

If it is desired that the collar 3 of an individual shirt 1 lie fiat, rather than upright, the board may be folded at the wing portions l and 2, either before or after insertion under the collar 8. Thus, the collar is permitted to lie in a natural, flattened position, and support for the entire periphery of the collar is simultaneously achieved.

The manner in which the ends d and are joined is indicated most clearly in Figs. 1 and 2. Thus, end 4 is provided with a plurality of uniformly spaced parallel cuts ll that extend upwardly from the lower edge and obliquely across the end 4 terminating near the center of the width of the end. These cuts H are formed by a single shearing operation, no material being removed from the wing I.

Similar oblique cuts I2 are provided adjacent the end 5. However, these cuts extend inwardly from the upper edge. When the ends 3 and 5 are 3 brought together, the directions of the cuts ll and I2 are substantially parallel.

The cuts H and I2 may be interengagecl in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. The provision of a plurality of cuts permits adjustment of the collar board to different sizes of collars, within limits, b proper choice of the interengaging cuts. Furthermore, the two imerengaged slots provide an interrupted cut extending obliquely across the back of the collar. Accordingly, there is a substantial resistance to fiexure of the back of the collar and the board along a line perpendicular to the neck opening. If the cuts would extend in a direction straight across the ends, the back of the collar and the band would offer less resistance to a flexing stress.

The collar board may be placed over the neckband when the collar is folded up, and then the collar can be folded downwardl to the position illustrated in Fig. 4.

The inventor claims:

1. A collar board formed of a single strip of cardboard having wings capable of being flexed to form a continuous loop, and having a center portion of reduced width conforming to the front of the collar, the wings extending obliquely from the center portion and having a Width gradually increasing from the center portion, the extremities of said Wings having a width adapted to conform to the width of the bacl: of the collar into which the board is adapted to be inserted; the wing ends having provisions to join said ends.

2. A collar board formed of a single strip of cardboard having Wings capable of being flexed to form a continuous loop, and having a center 1 portion of reduced Width conforming to the front of the collar, the Wings extending obliquel from the center portion and having a width gradually increasing from the center portion, the extremities of said wings having a width adapted to conform to the width of the back of the collar into which the board is adapted to be inserted; each wing end having a plurality of cuts oblique to the ends, and extending partly across the ends; any one of the cuts at one end cooperating with any one of the cuts at the other end to join said ends.

3. In a support for a collar of a shirt or the like: a collar board formed of a single strip of flexible material having wing portions obliquely diverging from a central or apex portion, the wing portions having a gradually increasing Width from the apex portion, the ends of the wings each having a plurality of cuts oblique to the ends, and extending partly across the ends, any one of the cuts at one end cooperating with any One of the cuts at the other end to join said ends and form a rear portion of a closed loop thereby, the angle of obliquity of the wings being such that, upon the wing portions being folded so that the collar may lie fiat, the apex portion is substantiall below the said rear portion.

4. In a support for a collar of a shirt or the like: a collar board formed of a single strip of flexible material having wing portions obliquely diverging from a central or apex portion, the wing portions having a gradually increasing width from the apex portion, the ends of the wings each having a pluralit of cuts oblique to the ends, and extending partly across the ends, any one of the cuts at one end cooperating with any one of the cuts at the other end to join said ends and form a rear portion ofa closed loop thereby, the angle of obliquity and the increasing width of the wing portions being such that, upon a loop being formed, the rear portion of the collar board is substantially upright, while the apex or central portion inclines and is narrow so that the Wing portions of the collar supported lie substantially fiat on the said shirt.

WILLIAM JOSEPH FREEDMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,933,867 Melaas Nov. 7, 1933 1,980,436 Reagan Nov. 13, 1934 2,001,617 Lanyon May 14, 1935 2,060,497 Cohen 1 Nov. 10, 1936 2,246,395 Steele -1 June 17, 1941 

